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An uncertain future for the State Pension?

Any discussion about the State Pension is inevitably a controversial one. A pillar of the welfare state, the thought of a future without a State Pension is hard to comprehend.

But, research we conducted at the end of November with 100 cross-party MPs revealed nearly one in six don’t expect there to be a State Pension 30 years from now, or if there is one, it will be at a considerably lower level. However, almost half are confident that there will still be a State Pension three decades from now.

Conservative MPs proved to be more pessimistic than Labour MPs overall with nearly twice as many (13%) believing that the State Pension will be non-existent or significantly lower compared to Labour MPs (7%).

Of those who do believe there will be a State Pension in 30 years’ time, over half think the State Pension age will have risen to 70. This percentage increases to 65% amongst Conservative MPs and is slightly lower amongst Labour MPs (52%).

Auto enrolment has a key role to play in plugging the savings gap but the MPs we surveyed agree that contributions need to rise beyond current levels to give Generation Y any chance of an adequate retirement.

Six in ten of the MPs surveyed believe that while auto enrolment minimum contributions are sufficient at the moment, they should be increased at some point in the future – a view NOW: Pensions strongly supports.